See this: brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28707 - a suggestion to add this feature. MinimizeToTray revived and Firetray don't work satisfactorily for me. With one of these extensions running, when I first launch evolution 3 or 4 windows open. Additionally after closing evolution to the messaging menu several times, when I re-open evolution the global menu is lost.
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stuart10Oct 18 '11 at 18:35

9 Answers
9

You can use the plug in called "Minimize to Tray" in Thunderbird to achieve that. Once installed Press F9 to minimize Thunderbird to the system tray. You will keep on receiving the Emails when it is minimized.

This works perfectly fine when you click the mail icon in the system tray.

Very good Abhijeet. It works. I only added the Enhanced Desktop Notification Addon so it notifies me via notify-send bubbles of a new mail.
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Luis Alvarado♦May 2 '12 at 20:08

Not sure if the add-on has been updated since you posted your answer but F9 does nothing in Ubuntu 12.04 - minimising pushes it straight to the system tray though, which is ideal.
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Ken SharpFeb 23 at 21:25

The MinimizeToTray revived add-on for Thunderbird can be configured to hide the Thunderbird icon in the Unity launcher when the close button is pressed, while leaving Thunderbird running and allowing it to be accessed through the mail indicator.

It may be installed by going to Tools --> Add-ons in Thunderbird and searching for MinimizeToTray. Once it is installed, the add-on's preferences can be configured to hide Thunderbird rather than closing or minimizing it when the close or minimize button is pressed.

Configure the add-on as follows:

Once the add-on is installed, go to Tools --> Add-ons again and click the Preferences button for the MinimizeToTray (revived) add-on.

In the Minimize to tray section, select Instead of closing and when minimizing option from the list.

In the Unity Launcher (on the left hand side), right click on Thunderbird's entry and ensure that Keep in Launcher is not ticked.

Once this is done, clicking the close or minimize button in Thunderbird should hide it. It may be recalled using the Mail entry in the Messaging Menu. To quit the program (rather than just hiding it), use File --> Quit in Thunderbird.

MinimizeToTray revived and Firetray don't work satisfactorily for me. With one of these extensions running, when I first launch evolution 3 or 4 windows open. Additionally after closing evolution to the messaging menu several times, when I re-open evolution the global menu is lost.
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stuart10Oct 20 '11 at 1:21

The MinimizeToTray revived add-on for Thunderbird can be configured to hide the Thunderbird icon in the Unity launcher when the close button is pressed, while leaving Thunderbird running and allowing it to be accessed through the mail indicator.

It may be installed by going to Tools --> Add-ons in Thunderbird and searching for MinimizeToTray. Once it is installed, the add-on's preferences can be configured to hide Thunderbird rather than closing or minimizing it when the close or minimize button is pressed.

Thats funny. I was trying that one after I made the question but still has issues. Will update my question so it might give you a better idea and help me because having this working would really help.
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Luis Alvarado♦May 2 '12 at 17:45

you might wanna logout and log back in, may it works in sync with unity I Use to use it, but now stopped.
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sarveshladMay 2 '12 at 17:47

Yes already did that. I also thought it might need a login/logout.
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Luis Alvarado♦May 2 '12 at 17:48

I have a solution that may help you, but it would require you using Compiz.

Setting it up

Start Compiz and enable the plugin 'Window Rules'.

Copy the following line

class=Thunderbird

Paste the code into the box titled 'Skip Taskbar'. This lets you have Thunderbird active while hiding it from your Launcher.

There are other options within this plugin that may be of use to you. E.g, there is the option to remove the close button from the window of any particular application, in this case if you use that code, it will be Thunderbird. Though I tried this and it worked a bit odd with a bug or two with that feature, so give it a try and use it for a bit to see if that one works for you.

What you need is Popper. Popper reads the new emails from POP3 and IMAP email servers and notifies about the number, subject, sender and time of new emails in the indicator applet and via a notification bubble.

How to install?

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open the terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install popper

How to configure?

Press the super key (windows key) and search for popper.

Open the Popper configurator and select "start popper automatically after login".

Now open the Thunderbird, and goto account settings through edit menu and select server settings under your Email Address and copy the server name and port number.

Go back to Popper configurator and select the "Account" tab

select "add" to add new email address, Fill the fields like this:

Name: Any name of your choice
Server: Paste the server address hare that you just copied from Thunderbird
User: Your real email address
Password: Password of your email address
Port: Paste the port number hare that you copied from Thunderbird and select 'SSL only'

Select IMAP if your email provider sports IMAP (Gmail, Yahoo and GMX)

Set the check frequency (how often should popper check for new mails).

Now open the "Test" tab of Popper configurator:

and hit "Test Email Connection", You should see a success message "OK Authentication Complete" if not than check your email address and other settings again.

you should check out popper, it autostarts at login,it will notify you when you have any new mail, even set custom sounds to notify you (or none) its great, it says when you have mail, then you open thunderbird to read 'em